Aquaphobia
by webhead.bugboy
Summary: Tony has a fear of water resulting from the water-boarding in Afghanistan. The rest of the team find this out the hard way.
1. Chapter 1

Tony woke up in a cold sweat. It wasn't even so much a nightmare, but memories. Almost every night he woke up after flying into the wormhole or seeing Yensin's bullet-ridden body stare up at him with glassy eyes.

His anxiety was getting worse, and he knew it. He just didn't want to admit it. It was a matter of time before he had one in in front of the team. They _were_ all living in his tower.

He sat up looking down and seeing the familiar blue glow of the arc reactor. His mind shot back to when Obi- no Stane- stole the reactor. He tapped the small metal circle, convincing himself that it was still there. Tony looked sadly at the spot where Pepper usually slept. She was gone for a week-long meeting in Japan.

"What time is it J?" He inquired of the AI.

"It is currently 6:53 AM, sir." Jarvis replied smoothly. "Captain Rogers and Ms. Romanoff have just returned from their morning jog and are making breakfast in the kitchen, Mr. Odinson is still sleeping, Mr. Barton is in the shooting range, and Dr. Banner is meditating on his floor."

"Why would you willingly get up that early?" He asked rhetorically.

"The answer escapes me, sir." Jarvis answered. Tony stood up and walked to the bathroom to take a shower.

After he took a long refreshing shower, he got dressed and headed down to the communal kitchen. AC/DC was softly playing in the elevator as he rode to the communal floor. He entered the large floor and made his way to the coffee machine.

"Good morning. Do you want some eggs?" Steve greeted.

"Coffee." He said in answer. Tony started a pot of coffee. Steve put a large portion of eggs on a plate and slid it over to Tony, who was crouched over the table next to Natasha.

Clint dropped down from the vents making Tony jump. "Any left?" He asked pointing to Tony's plate. Steve nodded before grabbing another plate and doling out another large portion of eggs. He bounced over to where Steve was holding his plate of eggs and grabbed the salt and pepper.

"How are you so happy in the morning?" Tony growled, looking disgusted. He walked to coffee maker and got himself a fresh cup of coffee.

Not everyone is a grouch like you, Iron ass." Clint said climbing onto the fridge.

"Clint, what are you doing on the fridge?" Bruce asked exiting the elevator.

"I like to be up high." He replied through a mouthful of eggs.

Bruce grabbed a plate and helped himself the the rest of the eggs. He walked over to the coffee pot and poured himself some coffee into the Hulk mug that Tony had gotten him. He sat down next across from Tony.

"You look like crap." Bruce said quietly, noticing the dark circles under Tony's eyes and his overall paleness.

"I bet you get all the ladies." Tony joked, taking a sip of coffee.

"Did you get any sleep last night or were you up playing with your robots again?" Bruce asked with a smirk.

"I _do not_ play with my robots." Tony said indignantly.

"You're deflecting the question." Bruce sang.

"I'm fine Green Bean." Tony replied shortly. He ate some of his eggs, trying to deflect the conversation from himself. The eggs were bland. He reached for the salt and pepper that Clint had left.

"Why are there no baths in this entire tower? Or pools?" Clint added as an afterthought. Tony stiffened ever so slightly. He had filled in all the pools and made all of the baths into showers. He did this because the thought of being submerged in water still haunted him in his nightmares after Afghanistan.

"I never thought that you would be one for pink bubbles and rubber duckys." Tony said.

"I was wondering the same thing, actually." Bruce stated, a questioning look directed at Tony. "Why aren't there any baths? It's not like you don't have the money."

"I just don't really like them. They get dirty. Especially jacuzzis, mold gets in there and it's just gross." He lied. He grabbed his coffee. "I'll be in my lab. I have to go do some work for SI." He walked as quickly as he could to the elevator without looking suspicious.

"Lab, JARVIS." The elevator went down. "Can you give me video and audio of what's happening in the kitchen now?"

"Of course." JARVIS responded, immediately pulling up the video and audio to the communal kitchen.

"What a load of bullshit." Clint said from the top of the fridge.

"Glad to know I wasn't the only one that noticed it." Natasha said.

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked, confused. Tony watched in apprehension.

"I'm not totally sure. " Stated Clint.

"JARVIS, why aren't there any baths or pools in the tower?" Bruce asked.

"I swear, if you tell them I will make you talk in nothing other than Harry Potter quotes for the rest of the year." Tony said violently, watching everything from the small screen.

"Always." JARVIS quoted, sarcastically. The AI addressed the kitchen. "That information is classified, Dr. Banner."

"Why would it be classified? He wouldn't have classified it if there wasn't something he wanted kept secret." Bruce looked worried.

"We can't be a team if we don't know important things like this about each other." Steve spoke.

"Well why don't you go ask him? That'll go well." Clint stated.

"Clint does have a point, Steve. We can't just go up and ask him. We have to think about this carefully." Natasha pointed out.

"Well, how would you do it then?" Steve asked, obviously unsure.

"I'll figure something out." She said and walked over to the elevator. Tony rushed out of the elevator as it started to close and go back up to meet Natasha.

Tony had heard enough. He didn't want Natasha prying into his life again. It was bad enough the first time. Why couldn't they just leave him alone?

* * *

The team had mostly forgotten about it, or so he thought. It was about 120° outside. The air conditioning was down because Clint had broken one of his chloroform arrows in one of the air ducts. Tony would have gotten it squared away quickly but the man that did all of the air conditioning, was out sick.

The entire team was miserable. Tony was going up to the communal floor to refill his coffee mug. After making a fresh pot of coffee, he walked over to the living room.

"Tony, are you sure you don't have a swimming pool?" Clint asked. "I mean, I'm boiling."

"It's your fault for getting us in this mess to begin with." Tony shot at him.

"Do you have a pool or not?" Natasha asked, her body was draped over one of the many couches.

"I have a few at my other houses." He answered.

"Take me to this fine pool of swimming." Thor boomed.

"No, there isn't a lot of room there." Tony responded.

"Honestly, I don't care if it's the size of a closet as long as there is a pool outside." Steve spoke from an armchair. "Where's the closest one?"

"That would be the mansion." Tony said, his tone was hard.

"Take me there now." Natasha commanded.

"None of you have swimsuits." Tony tried.

"SHIELD gave us some," Clint pointed to himself and Natasha, "And Bruce can borrow one of your's. Cap can figure out something."

"SHIELD gave me one too." Steve spoke up.

"What makes you think I have any swimsuits?" Tony asked.

"If you have a swimming pool you have swimsuits." Natasha replied.

Despite much complaining from Tony, the Avengers were in a car headed to Tony's mansion. Tony was not happy about this in the slightest. He had to go to the mansion that he grew up in. He didn't have many happy memories there. All of the happy ones he did have reminded him of people who he was unable to see. Namely, Jarvis his old butler and his Aunt Peggy, who had dementia and thought he was Howard whenever he saw her. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel as he remembered this. The others were sitting in the back chatting. Bruce was next to him reading quietly.

"I didn't know you had a mansion." Bruce stated looking up from his book.

"I'm not a fan of it." Tony replied shortly.

"Why wouldn't you be?" Bruce asked. At this point Tony thought Bruce was just trying to make conversation.

"It was the house that I grew up in." Tony would normally never be so open with anyone, not even Pepper, but Bruce seemed to have an aura around him that made you want to open up to him.

"So?" Bruce questioned. He was either not getting the fact that Tony didn't want to talk or he was just ignoring it.

"I didn't have a very happy childhood." Tony said, stopping at the stoplight.

"What, were you not spoiled enough as a child?" Clint jokes from one of the back seats.

"Look, I don't really want to talk about it. Okay?" Tony saw the light turn green and pressed the pedal a bit harder than he would have normally done.

"No, I'm curious to why the 'Great Tony Stark' didn't have a happy childhood." Clint insisted. Tony looked at Bruce, hoping for him to tell Clint to drop it. No such luck as Bruce too held a hint of curiosity in his brown eyes.

"Come on. Do you really want me to go over my entire crappy childhood?" Tony asked, trying to get them to drop it. Instead they just nodded eagerly.

"Fine. I don't like the mansion because it's too small." Tony lied. He really didn't want to go down that road.

"That's a load of bullshit." Natasha said, not looking up from her magazine.

"Look, can't you just accept that I don't want to talk about it." Tony exclaimed.

"I just can't wait to see little Tony's bedroom." Clint mocked.

"No. Absolutely no going in my room." Tony had idolized Captain America when he was younger. It was hard not to when that was the only thing his dad would talk to him about. He had action figures and everything. If Clint found out about that, he would never hear the end of it.

"Oh, now even I'm curious." Natasha stated from her spot next to Clint. "You can't have anything that bad in there."

"Just stay out of my room." Tony was at his wits ends. He turned into the long driveway that he remembered so well. They stopped next to the huge building.

"This is where you grew up?" Steve asked incredulously, putting his book down. They all clambered out of the large car. God, Tony hated this place.

"Go down this first hallway, then turn right, then right again. The door's labeled 'Pool' so, you can't miss it. I'll go get the swimsuits." He grumbled.

"I'll go with you." Bruce offered. "I want to see more of where you grew up anyways."

"Fine." Tony muttered. He took the stairs up to the nest level. He stiffened when he saw his father's old office, but ignored it. He walked down the hallway, Bruce on his heels.

"Stay here." He requested. He opened the door to his old bedroom and just as luck would have it, a Captain America poster fell into the hallway.

"C'est des connenes!" He swore. Tony could speak only two languages (English and Spanish), but he knew how to swear in almost eighteen different languages.

"So, you were a big fan of Captain America when you were younger. No wonder you didn't want Clint to see your room." Bruce chuckled slightly.

"It was the only thing Howard talked to me about that didn't end with an argument or him getting drunk." Tony grunted angrily.

Bruce nodded, an understanding look across his face. He moved quietly into the room, looking at the old decor in interest. He picked up a fallen action figure and placed it carefully on the dresser. Tony walked into the walk-in closet looking into the drawers for the swimsuits. It had been a long time since he had swam but he had stopped growing in his early twenties so the swimsuits would still fit. Damn it. He grabbed two pairs and handed the first to Bruce.

They walked out to the pool, Tony dreading every step of the way. They stopped at the bathroom to change. Bruce went in first. After Bruce was done, Tony went in. He kept his T-shirt firmly on. He still wasn't comfortable with the team seeing his arc reactor.

They walked out together and out to the Olympic sized swimming pool. Steve, Clint and Thor were already in the pool. Natasha was reclined on a chair next to the pool reading a magazine. Tony went to sit in the seat next to her. Bruce went to go join in.

"Come on in! The water's perfect." Steve called over to the two. Natasha looked up. She read the last page of her magazine and stood up. She walked over and gracefully slid into the pool. Now he was alone.

"Come on Tony. Get in here." Clint yelled over the sound of a splashing war between Bruce and Thor. He waved them off.

"You are missing these magnificent waters, friend. Come and join us." Thor boomed, golden locks soaked.

"Nah, I'd rather watch you guys." Tony tried. He grabbed Natasha's abandoned magazine and pretended to read it.

Clint looked mischievously at the place where Tony was sitting. He swam over to Thor. He whispered his plan into the demigod's ear. The two of them swam over to the side of the pool and climbed out. The rest of the Avengers stopped to watch.

Suddenly, Tony was being hoisted in the air. "Hey, guys this isn't funny." He shouted. "Put me down now." His voice was getting a bit of a panicked edge. The two holding him threw him into the water.

He was back in the cave. There were arms holding him under. The car battery wires were sparking. He couldn't breathe. He held his breath, trying as hard as he could to not breathe the dirty water. The harsh language he remembered went through his ears once again. He struggled against the arms that he felt. He kicked out, hitting something solid.

Strong arms wrapped around his body, pulling him up. He felt himself break the surface. He scrambled out of the water and collapsed on the ground, shivering.

He felt someone close to him. Two hands caught his, as he lashed out again. The vice-like hands that were clenched around his let go.

"Tony, Tony! It's me, Bruce. You need to breath." Tony heard through his panicked state. Soft, gentle arms wrapped around him. Wait- Bruce? Why was Bruce here? He looked up and saw the damp curls of his friend. The memories of what happened flooded into his head.

He leaned into the warm body gasping for air. "That's it, just breathe." The soft voice whispered above him. He grasped the arc reactor, assuring himself that he wasn't hooked up to wires anymore. Tony stayed in Bruce's arms for what felt like hours.

Once he had calmed enough, he saw the rest of the team, huddled around him. He glanced at Bruce and backed out of his reassuring arms. "Sorry." He muttered.

"What would you be sorry for? I'm the one that made you go in. I should be the one that's sorry." Clint apologised.

"I too am very sorry." Thor looked down in shame.

"I'd just like to know why that happened." Steve said. Bruce glared at him for his lack of tact.

"Afghanistan." He clipped. "There was a terrorist organization called The Ten Rings. They wanted me to make a bomb." He had never told anyone about 'the incident' as he called it.

Steve looked at him in confusion. "What does that have to do with water?"

"Waterboarding." Natasha answered shortly. Bruce helped him off the ground and grabbed a towel. The others took it as a sign that the conversation was done. Bruce and Tony headed back to the bathroom so they could change.

"Tony, why didn't you tell us?" Bruce asked once they were back in the car.

"Why would I?" He shot back. He can't believe that he broken down in front of his team.

"It's okay to not be fine." Clint spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. 'Stark men are made of iron' went through Tony's head. He had been taught from a very young age that emotions were for the weak, that he should cover them up at all costs.

They drove the rest of the way back to the tower in silence. He made his way to the workshop immediately. He patted DUM-E on his touch sensor as he offered a smoothie. He thought that maybe, just maybe, he could trust this band of superheros.

I do not own the Avengers. If any of this is wrong please tell me. Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony had stayed in his workshop for an entire week afterwards. This wasn't entirely abnormal for Tony, but when he wouldn't even let Bruce in, the team knew that something was extremely wrong. Tony hadn't slept. The dam he had created against the memories had broken, leaving them to flood into the forefront of his mind.

Steve had almost broken down the door almost four times. Key work being almost. Tony had built the doors to withstand the force of the Hulk. He had passed out from exhaustion three times. All of which he woke from, dripping in a cold sweat and shaking. He ran a hand through his greasy hair. His clothes were beginning to smell too. After the pool incident, he could barely look at water, let alone be in it.

It was a good thing that Pepper was away again. If she was here she would kick his ass for not telling the team such important information. He stumbled over to one of his larger tablets and sat down. He had been working nonstop ever since he had entered. He had put JARVIS on lockdown.

He started working on an upgrade for the Starkphones that he had been putting off. He looked like a zombie. As he did some difficult calculations in his head, the sound of footsteps was coming closer. God, it was probably Steve again. He could live on granola bars and protein shakes, right? The doors whirred open. Tony turned around glancing around at the intruder.

Rhodey walked over, looking him up and down. "Steve called me. He said that you haven't come out in days. We talked about this Tones. This isn't healthy." He pointed at all the empty cups and wrappers.

"I'm fine Honey Bear." Tony said without missing a beat.

"Tell me that when you don't look like you're about to keel over." Rhodey chastised. He grabbed the hand that was still working on the tablet and lowered it. "You're shaking. When was the last time you slept?"

Rhodey knew Tony better than anyone, minus maybe Pepper. Rhodey would know if he lied. "I passed out about," Tony did the math, "forty two hours ago." He glanced back down at the tablet.

Rhodey whistled."Trying to set a record?" He was more worried than he let on.

"Nah, the longest I've ever gone is nine days. The longest anyone's ever gone is eleven." He knew that he would have to sleep sometime, but he really wasn't looking forward to it.

"Look, why don't you go take a shower and we'll talk. I'd talk now but you look like shit and you smell." Tony tensed at the idea.

"Do I have to?" He whined.

"Yes, Tones." Damn. There would be no arguing with him. Rhodey took him gently by the shoulders and dragged him out of the workshop. They took the elevator up to the penthouse.

"I'll be in the living room. Okay?" Rhodey looked over at him.

Tony had planned to say that he was being overprotective, but what came out was totally different. "Can you stay over here?" He gestured to the large bedroom that connected to the bathroom.

"Yeah, if you want me to." He replied, any hint of surprise covered up by a look of reassurance. He grabbed a magazine and went to go wait on the bed. Tony went over to the bathroom.

He undressed and walked into the large shower. He reached for the knobs. He turned the water on to the warmest setting he could stand. He stood there, hot water running in front of him. He could feel the slight spray and mentally prepared himself. It was just water, it couldn't hurt him. His mind flashed back to the waterboarding. Okay, so maybe it could hurt him.

Rhodey's right outside. Nothing bad could happen to him. Rhodey would save him. He had before and he would if anything bad happened. He put his foot in carefully. See, he was fine. He put his leg in. If he could get past this point, he would be golden. He moved to put his torso in. His shoulders were more tense than ever. He guarded his arc reactor with his hand. He could do this. It wasn't any different than before. He put his head in. Immediately, the memories flooded in.

He ducked out of the spray. His world spun around him. He sat down on the floor, pulling the shower curtain down with him.

"Tones, are you okay?" Rhodey came barging through the unlocked door. Tony was sat on the floor, the shower curtain heaped over him and the shower still running. Tony looked up at his friend with haunted eyes.

"JARVIS, what's wrong with him?" Rhodey asked, panic sightly evident in his voice.

"I believe Sir is having a panic attack. Please try to help." JARVIS had something akin to worry in his voice. Rhodey ran over to his friend and crouched down next to him. Tony was completely oblivious to him. Tony tapped a rhythm on the reactor. Rhodey thought there was something familiar about it, but couldn't place it. Rhodey turned off the water. He took Tony in his arms and started to talk.

"We're at your tower. It's August fourth, 2013." Tony was almost hyperventilating. "Breathe, Tony. What's the atomic number of argon?"

"Eighteen." Tony gasped.

"What is the atomic mass of potassium?"

"Nineteen." Tony was calming down a bit now.

"Helium?" Rhodey went on naming all of the elements he could remember. About twenty minutes later, Tony had calmed down enough for him to grab a towel. Rhodey stood up and grabbed Tony's clothes. He turned around as Tony was changing.

After Tony was changed they went out to the kitchen. Tony didn't use it much, but it was always fully stocked. He reached out for the alcohol cabinet, but a hand stopped him. "No, you are not going to just get drunk." Rhodey said. "You are going to go take a nap and I'm going to sit out here and finish this magazine."

Tony felt a twinge of panic at the thought of the nightmares that were sure to come. He was more relieved than he would like to admit at the fact that Rhodey was going to be right outside, though. He nodded and went into his bedroom. The bed looked so comfortable and he was exhausted. He laid down, not even bothering to change into his pajamas and fell into a fitful sleep.

*Rhodey Point of View

Rhodey thought about what had been causing this. The only time this had happened before was after Afghanistan, but that had been years ago. Rhodey had no clue as to what had caused this. Tony had been getting close to Dr. Banner. Maybe he would know something. Rhodey asked JARVIS to call Bruce up.

A few minutes later, Bruce walked out of the elevator. "Is everything okay?" Bruce asked, seeing the worried look on Rhodey's face.

"No, not really. Do you have any idea why Tony hasn't been out of the lab in a week?" Rhodey questioned.

"Oh, that. The air conditioning was broken, so we went to the closest pool. The closest pool happened to be Tony's mansion." Rhodey groned. He knew that Tony hated the mansion. "Where is he anyway?" Bruce looked around as if Tony was going to pop out of the walls.

"I tried to get him to take a shower, but that didn't go so well. He's sleeping now but that's not going to last very long. What happened at the mansion?" Rhodey inquired.

"We were all swimming except Tony. Clint didn't know about the water boarding and thought that he should come join the fun so he threw him in." Bruce looked down, ashamed. "We've been trying to get Tony to talk to us but he locked himself in his lab. Steve almost broke down the door."

Great. No wonder Tony freaked out. Rhodey had been there the first time that Tony freaked. Rhodey knew from Pepper that it had taken almost two months for Tony to take a shower without panicking.

"Damn it. This isn't going to be fun." Rhodey said. "Tony could barely look at water after. Afghanistan."

"I'm going to go talk to the rest of the team. They should know." Bruce moved towards the elevator.

"Wait, do you know what this rhythm is?" Rhodey tapped out the same rhythm that Tony had been taping on his arc reactor. "Tony did it earlier and I can't place where I've heard it before."

"It sounds familiar." Bruce hummed, "Sorry, I don't know."

Rhodey watched him get on the elevator. "JARVIS, what was the rhythm that he was tapping?"

"Sir uses it to calm himself down. DUM-E clicks the rhythm." JARVIS answered smoothly.

"What does it mean?" Rhodey inquired. He went over to the bedroom door to see if Tony was alright. There was a small crease between his eyebrows but overall he was fine.

"I believe that you will have to ask Sir yourself." Rhodey huffed at the answer. He walked over to the fridge and opened it. He started looking through the drinks.

He grabbed the carton of milk and looked at the expiration date. He threw it out in disgust. He continued to search, throwing out all of the expired goods as he went. Finally, he opened the bottle of grape juice and poured himself a glass.

Just as he was going to take a drink, a scream echoed around the large room. Setting his glass down quickly, he hurried over to Tony's bedroom.

Tony was tangled in the sweat-soaked sheets. Rhodey ran over. He grabbed Tony's arm, trying to calm him. A stray fist came up and knocked him right on his jaw. Rhodey let go in surprise. With renewed vigor, Rhodey reached over to Tony's arc reactor. He tapped the rhythm that he had seen Tony tapping. Tony's fists were still flailing about, but Rhodey did nothing to stop them. He knew that holding him down would make it worse. A few minutes later Tony calmed. Tony slowly opened his eyes.

*Tony's Point of View

He looked up to an arm that he knew very well tapping the rhythm he knew so well on his chest. He sat up sharply, looking into the dark eyes of his best friend. The tapping immediately ceased. Tony could see the darkness of the wormhole in his mind's eye. Some of the downsides of having a photographic memory. Tony looked down in shame. Rhodey shouldn't have to calm him down from a nightmare like a six year old. Rhodey seemed to catch his guilty look.

"Hey Tones. It's okay. You're at the tower. Everything's okay." Rhodey reassured. He pulled Tony into a firm hug. Tony relaxed in his arms. He felt calmer already. Rhodey was one of the only people that he allowed hugs from.

Once Rhodey let go, Tony stood up. "I need coffee." He said, horsley. He decided to act like nothing had just happened. It was easier for both of them. Neither of them liked really deep talks and only had them when absolutely necessary.

They both walked over to the elevator. To Tony's surprise, the whole team was sitting in the lounge next to the coffee maker. Tony walked over to it as if he didn't see them. He saw Rhodey shoot him a disapproving glare.

"You look like shit." Clint observed. Tony scowled at him, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He took a sip of the steaming beverage. Steve walked over.

"Tony, you should know that none of us think any less of you." Steve looked like he wanted to put an arm on Tony's, but thought better of it.

"Okay." Tony didn't know how to answer that. "I'm going back to my workshop."

"No, absolutely not. You've been down there for a week and we're going to talk." Steve made a move over to him, as if he was going to physically stop him from leaving.

"Didn't take you for the chick-flick moments." Tony shot at him. Sarcasm was his defence.

"Friend Tony. We do not wish to make you uncomfortable. We wish to rid you of your sorrows." Thor boomed from a spot on the couch.

"No thanks, Shakespeare. I've got other stuff to do. You know, running a company like Stark Industries is not as easy as I make it look." Tony moved to the elevator, but Steve's large body was in the way.

"Move, I've got stuff to do." Tony rolled his eyes at the immatureness of it. Honestly, Tony just wanted to get out of here. If he could just get in the elevator, he would be safe.

"No. You need to talk about this Tony." Rhodey gave him yet another glare. They were ganging up on him now.

"You can't just let it fester inside you. You need to talk about it." Bruce walked over to him and took his abandoned coffee cup. He walked over to the large coffee table and set it on top. What an ass. Tony could just get another cup, but that wasn't the point. That was his favorite cup, with Iron Man on the front.

Tony walked over to the smaller table and grabbed his coffee back. Clint, Natasha and Thor all made a wall, blocking him in. Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. He instead took a sip of coffee and sat down on the large couch, as if there wasn't a large wall of superheroes blocking him from going to his workshop.

"Yes I can. I've done it before and I'll do it again." Tony tried to get past the barricade, but they were very strong.

"Yeah, and we know where that got you. Having an anxiety attack on the shower floor." Rhodey spoke up from the kitchen. Tony glared daggers at him around the large body of Thor.

"Tony, we all fear something. You just happen to fear water. With good reason too." Clint noted.

"Yeah? What are you afraid of?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Cold, ice." Steve spoke from the doorway. Tony was surprised that Steve has spoken up so quickly. He felt a moment of guilt at the practical joke that he had played on Steve earlier that week. He and Clint had thought it funny to put an action figure of the Captain in the ice dispenser.

"I fear all of my family turning against me, as my dear brother has." Thor boomed. Honestly, did he have any sense of an inside voice?

"I'm afraid of losing my eyesight." Clint said. Tony saw the reason in that. If Clint couldn't see, he wouldn't be able to use his bow.

"I'm afraid of hurting my friends." Bruce said. He looked regretfully at Natasha.

"You'd never hurt any of us, Jolly Green." Tony called to him over the barricade. "What are you afraid of Natashalie?"

"I'm afraid of the people I trust turning on me." She walked over to the couch, breaking the wall of people.

"Okay, chick-flick moment over. Can I go to my lab?" Tony hated the sympathetic looks that were being thrown everywhere. He just wanted to escape.

"No. You need to get it off your chest." Steve started moving over to the large couch.

"I already told you. I'm fine." Tony moved to the elevator for the second time in an hour, just to be stopped again.

"According to the Colonel, that's not true. You're definitely not fine if you can't even take a shower without panicking." Bruce could have phrased it better, but bluntness got the point across just fine.

"Can you have JARVIS alert one of us if you have another anxiety attack?" Steve's tone told Tony that it was a command, not a simple question.

Tony sighed. "Fine. But only if I say it's okay."

"Well that's never going to work. We all know that you won't do it. You're too headstrong." Natasha said, cleaning under her nails with a knife that had come from nowhere. Knowing her, there were secret knives stashed everywhere. Tony had to agree with her.

"JARVIS alert one of us anytime Tony has an anxiety attack." Bruce called, looking up despite the many times Tony had told him that the AI didn't live in the ceiling.

"I will Doctor Banner." Tony groaned at his AI's response. It was true that JARVIS had his best intentions at heart, but sometimes he cared too much for Tony's liking.

"Is there anything else you'd like to tell us Tones?" Rhodey inquired.

"Nope. You've done enough damage already. Now my AI's taking orders from you and my team knows my biggest weakness." Tony mumbled the last part under his breath.

"Tony, what do you think we're going to do? Throw you off the team?" Steve chuckled at the last part. This brought an unsettled feeling in the pit of Tony's stomach. Technically, he was still a consultant. They _could_ if they wanted to.

"Nah, you wouldn't do that. You love me." Tony lied. God, he just wanted to get out of here.

"We wouldn't throw you off the team." Natasha reassured, putting her knife away. She always seemed to know what he was thinking. Damn spies.

"If you won't talk to us talk to someone, please Tones." Rhodey was almost pleading with him now. Tony had to admit, anxiety wasn't fun.

"Okay, Okay, I'll talk to JARVIS. _Now_ can I go to the workshop?" Tony was annoyed now. All he wanted was some coffee. He walked over to the elevator, unstopped this time. Thank God. He was alone now. He rode down the elevator, AC/DC's Shot Down in Flames playing softly. He walked smoothly into the lab and pulled up the most recent project. "Pull up playlist number six, Jay." He called.

JARVIS knew everything. The AI had also become Tony's therapist in the last few years. After everything that had happened to Tony, how could he not confide in someone. He worked listening to the loud music that JARVIS had provided.

Tony watched as DUM-E rolled over, brandishing a fire extinguisher at him as if he would spontaneously catch fire. Tony clicked at him in slight irritation. The bots had their own language that Tony had invented for them. It was mostly clicks. The small robot clicked in sadness. DUM-E rolled closer, setting the fire extinguisher down on the table. He moved his claw out, resting over the arc reactor. He tapped the rhythm that Tony knew so well on the warm metal. "Don't waste your life."

I do not own Avengers. If anything is wrong please tell me. Reviews mean a lot. Thanks!


End file.
